I don’t know Jim Irsay personally, but I feel like I know him. I’d like to know him better. I’ve been thinking a lot about Jim and his situation the last few days. I keep wondering if there’s something I can do to help, and for now this column is my best effort in that regard.
Indianapolis Business Journal gathered tech leaders for a Technology Power Breakfast panel discussion March 14. The panel talked about topics ranging from ExactTarget to mentors to raising capital.
For 2014, at least, Obamacare's dreams of expanding individual insurance coverage in Indiana have simply failed. There's no getting around it.
Oy. By the time the Bushes and Clintons are finished, they are going to make the Tudors and the Plantagenets look like pikers. Barack Obama will turn out to be the interim guy who provided a tepid respite while Hillary and Jeb geared up to go at it.
Dow AgroSciences LLC is spending millions of dollars and racking up hundreds of patents as its expands ever deeper in the burgeoning global market for genetically modified crops and pesticides.
You’ll see the intrusions clearly in the kind of car you drive and how much you pay for power.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House moved Thursday to block President Barack Obama's plan to limit carbon emissions from new power plants, an election-year strike at the White House aimed at portraying Obama as a job killer.
One of Eli Lilly and Co.’s experimental diabetes drugs was as effective at lowering blood sugar levels as Victoza, the leading drug on the market. Indianapolis-based Lilly said its drug dulaglutide showed “non-inferiority” when tested against the strongest dose of Victoza, a best-selling drug for Type 2 diabetics made by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk A/S. The study of 599 patients examined the effect on hemoglobin A1c scores, a measure of diabetes control. Lilly said it would wait to disclose detailed results of its Phase 3 clinical trial of the two drugs until scientific meetings later this year. But the result is good news for Lilly, which is counting on dulaglutide and a few other drugs it plans to launch this year to rejuvenate its sales after the patent expiration in December of its top-selling drug, Cymbalta. Before the latest study, Wall Street analysts predicted dulaglutide could achieve $1.5 billion a year in sales. Victoza generated $2.1 billion in 2013 sales for Novo Nordisk, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and was the top seller in its class. Dulaglutide has already proved itself superior to other diabetes drugs, including metformin, Byetta and Januvia, in clinicial studies announced last year. Dulaglutide has been submitted to U.S. regulators for approval, with a decision expected by September.
Pharmacists would be able to substitute an interchangeable biosimilar drug for a prescribed name-brand product under a bill passed by the Indiana House of Representatives last week. The bill now moves to the Governor’s Office for consideration. The legislation, authored by Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, creates a series of steps to ensure the safety of automatic substitution of biosimilar medications. Senate Bill 262 includes five principles supported by BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Biosimilar drugs are generic versions of biotech drugs, which are developed from organically produced proteins. Traditional pills are synthesized from chemicals.
Louisville-based KentuckyOne Health, a hospital system that employs more than 14,000 people in Kentucky and southern Indiana, has laid off about 500 people to help reduce a $218 million deficit, according to the Associated Press. In addition, the company said it would not fill 200 job vacancies, to further reduce costs. Hospital systems across the country have begun slashing work forces to reduce bloated budgets after years of aggressive building, while adjusting to lower Medicare reimbursement and reductions in Medicaid funding.
Even though the state’s three largest hospital systems–IU Health, St. Vincent Health and Franciscan Alliance–eliminated a combined 2,700 jobs, it created just a blip in the long-term run-up in hospital employment.
State leaders want twice as many Hoosiers earning post-high-school credentials by 2025 as there are today. And the only realistic way for the state to get there is for Indianapolis-based Ivy Tech to double its enrollment and double its graduation rates.
The Indianapolis drugmaker said dulaglutide performed as well as Victoza, a best-selling drug for Type 2 diabetics made by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk. Analysts think dulaglutide could reach annual sales of $1.5 billion.
Online physician visits could become far more common in Indiana this year under a bill pending in the General Assembly. House Bill 1258 would allow the large health insurer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to launch a pilot program using the Live Health Online technology it has developed with Massachusetts-based software firm American Well Corp. The technology—which allows doctors to make virtual house calls via a Skype-like video and chat portal—would expand access to health care by making physicians available at odd hours and to patients in far-flung areas. The pilot would be conducted by primary care physicians at Indianapolis-based American Health Network, a large primary care physician practice. The pilot could last as long as six months and would involve at least 200 online visits. After the pilot phase, the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana then would be able to decide whether to expand online visits statewide and under what restrictions, if any. Since 2003, the Medical Licensing Board has restricted those visits to patients and doctors who have had an in-person encounter. HB 1258 would remove that restriction, allowing doctor-patient consultations where no relationship existed.
Eli Lilly and Co. will acquire all assets of Germany-based Lohmann SE and its subsidiary, Lohmann Animal Health. The assets include vaccines and feed additives and manufacturing sites in Cuxhaven, Germany, and Winslow, Maine. No terms were released, but Indianapolis-based Lilly said Monday that its 2014 earnings forecast will be trimmed due to acquisition costs. Lohmann Animal Health had sales of $342 million in fiscal 2012. It has about 600 employees in more than 30 countries. In November, Reuters reported that Boehringer Ingelheim was considering an offer for Lohmann Animal Health estimated at $535 million. Lilly said the acquisition will significantly increase the ability of its Elanco Animal Health subsidiary to make vaccines. Competing in that market is a "cornerstone" of the subsidiary's long-term strategy, the company said. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
A panel of House lawmakers Feb. 20 approved a one-year ban on construction of nursing homes, according to the Associated Press. The measure passed the Ways and Means Committee 12-7. The Senate authors of the measure originally sought a five-year moratorium, but Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, suggested the length be trimmed to give lawmakers time to decide if a ban is needed. The ban is at the center of an ongoing debate between the state's existing nursing homes and developers leading a wave of construction across the state.
The University of Indianapolis plans to spend $50 million over five years on major construction projects. The bulk of the money will be spent on a 134,000-square-foot health sciences center, which will provide training space for UIndy’s nursing, physical therapy and other health care students, as well as for a community health care facility. Over the next two years, the UIndy will also renovate its Krannert Memorial Library, replace its Campus Apartments on Shelby Street with newer housing options and expand its science labs. UIndy also plans to hire additional faculty for key programs and launch men’s and women’s lacrosse teams.
Shares of Eli Lilly and Co. rose last week after the Indianapolis-based drugmaker revealed that an experimental drug boosted overall survival among lung cancer patients in a large Phase 3 trial. When ramucirumab was applied to non-small cell lung cancer, along with a traditional chemotherapy drug, it showed a statistically significant extension of the time of overall survival when compared with patients who only took the chemotherapy drug, Lilly said Feb. 19. The company plans to submit ramucirumab for market approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this year. The drug has already shown positive results as a treatment for gastric cancer, and Lilly is studying the drug as a liver cancer treatment as well. Wall Street analysts have modest expectations for ramucirumab. Bernstein Research analyst Tim Anderson expects sales next year of $167 million, ramping up to $669 million by 2020.
The Obama administration is squaring off at the Supreme Court with industry groups and Republican-led states, including Indiana, over a small but important program aimed at limiting power-plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming.
Count me among the many Hoosiers increasingly dismayed by the assault on science from people who seem threatened by the notion that empirical evidence might conflict with their worldviews.
Nearly two-thirds of the state’s nursing homes are now participating in partnerships with county-owned hospitals that effectively double their profit margins.
A posse of Internet-based prognosticators is offering not just forecasts but sometimes even mounds of data left open to interpretation.
